Learning to sing
by RexHeller
Summary: AU where the Endbringers take human form between attacks and the Simurgh is Taylor's mom.
1. Prelude 0-1

**Prelude 0.1**

 **September 1994, Brockton Bay**

In a rundown bar in the Docks district a man sits by the bar. The name of the bar isn't important; it's merely one of many hangouts for dockworkers that are off the job. The name of man is though; he is Danny Herbert, a dockworker by trade, a job he followed his father's footsteps into. However, despite years of hard work, he remains a skinny stick of a man when compared to the muscular physiques of his fellows and so is thinking of taking a desk job. Not that it will do much good; work is slowly drying up for the dockworkers, hence the drinking.

Danny nearly jumps out of his seat when someone claps a hand on his shoulder and says, "Hey my man, it's not right to be drinking alone you know."

Spinning around, Danny sighs a breath of relief when he recognizes the one who startled him. "Jesus Lex, you nearly gave me a heart attack."

Lex, a tall young man with the body of a surfer and the tan to match, merely laughed. "That's a sign that you're working too hard, my man. All that work is making you old. You should take a day off, relax a bit."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Not all of us can just sit on the dock fishing all day. Some of us actually have to work for a living," he grumbled good-naturedly before returning Lex's grin. "Still, it's good to see you. It's been awhile since we talked. How's Benjamin doing?"

"Same as usual," Lex replied while sliding onto a barstool. "Still traveling. Last I heard he was in China somewhere, probably picking up a katana or some other souvenir." Lex leaned onto the bar lazily and waved at the bartender who started prepping his usual. It was easy, all Lex cared was that it had alcohol and a little umbrella in it, anything else was just a bonus.

"Aren't katanas Japanese?"

"Same difference." Lex waved a hand dismissively before straightening up, more excited than Danny had ever seen the laidback slacker. "Hey, speaking of family there's someone I want to introduce you to. Hey, Sis!" he suddenly shouted, waving back towards the entrance. "Over here."

Danny turned toward to see who Lex was waving at and was shocked, very nearly dropping his jaw. Walking towards the two of them was the most beautiful girl Danny had ever seen. She was thin and lithe, almost delicate it seemed, like fine china. She was wearing a white sundress that showed off her flawless, pale skin despite the dropping temperatures. She brushed her platinum blonde hair from her face and Danny forgot to breath at the sight of her sparkling blue eyes and soft smile.

The girl walked over and shyly looked at the ground before letting out an eep of surprise when Lex wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into a one-armed hug. "Angel, this is Danny Hebert, the guy I wanted you to meet. Danny, this is my little sister, Angel Ender."

"H-hello," Angel said, nervously waving at Danny. Despite her uncertainty her voice was melodic, almost as if she was singing instead of talking.

"H-hi," Danny replied, returning the wave, just as nervous.

Lex just grinned. The first step in his brilliant plan was working. Sure, he might not be as great at intricate plots as his sister but sometimes the less steps you took, the quicker you reached your destination and the more you could enjoy it when you got there. Now for step two. "So, Danny. Angel here is new in town and I was hoping you could show her around. I'd do it myself but you know the Bay isn't going to fish itself. Bye!"

Before either Danny or Angel could say anything in response Lex left as suddenly as he had arrived. Both of them watched his rapidly repeating back for a bit before simultaneously bursting into laughter. Danny stopped first and just listened to Angel giggle, enjoying the bell-like sound.

All things must come to an end of course and soon Angel stopped laughing. As the two of them lapsed into a semi-awkward silence, Danny struggled to find the right words to say. "So, uh, do you want to… you need someone to show you Brockton Bay?"

Angel giggled again, which Danny hoped was a good sign. "That would be great, thank you. Lex is too lazy to do it and I'd like to get to know my new home."

"Sounds good." Danny nodded and got up. "Do you mind if we take my truck? All the important places are a bit spread out and it'll be faster than walking."

"That's fine with me." Angel answered and the two of them headed out of the bar.

"So," Danny asked while they were walking to his car, "you'll be sticking around town, not traveling like Benjamin?"

"I hope so," Angel replied. "I want to settle down but I'd like more of a reason to stay than that."

"Right." Danny nodded, not quite understanding. The two of them didn't speak much more until they reached Danny's car. When they did Danny held her door open. A tad old-fashioned maybe but he believed in being a gentleman. After Angel was safely inside Danny made his way to the driver's seat and turned the car on. The sound of the radio filled the car.

"I'm here with PRT Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown to get some answers on this new Endbringer, which is tentatively being call the Sim-"

The radio announcer was cut off as Danny hit the power button. "Sorry. I don't think we need to be listening to that right now. Awful stuff, hearing about all those lives lost." He put the truck in reverse and was about to back out of his parking spot when Angel asked a question.

"What do you think of them?"

"Pardon?" Danny said, turning to look at Angel. She was looking at him intently with an expression that he didn't quite understand.

"The Endbringers. What do you think of them?"

Danny turned back to the front and leaned back in his seat, staring at the ceiling. After a minute of thought he spoke. "That's… a difficult question. Obviously I think that they're terrifying. The attacks they make are insane. All those people, dead. But… I don't know, I just can't help but question why? Why are they doing this? What do they gain from killing us? What purpose do they serve? Maybe… Maybe if we understood them a little we could do something about them instead of just sending heroes to their deaths." Danny looked back at Angel. "Does that make sense?"

"Not really," Angel said with a little smile. Still, she looked satisfied with the answers Danny gave, or perhaps she was feeling thoughtful. Maybe both? Danny couldn't tell. She had a beautiful smile though.

Danny decided to put that particular bit of strangeness behind him and focus on showing Angel a good time. The two of them spent the rest of the day and a good portion of the night seeing the sights around two of them soon found that they felt comfortable together and enjoyed each other's company. As the hours went by they wound up paying less attention to the sights and more attention to each other. Eventually though, all good things must come to an end. Danny ran out of ideas for things he could show her and so was disappointed that he would have to see her go.

"I think that's it for the tour," he said, regret clear in his voice. They were sitting in Danny's truck again, on the side of the road next to their last destination. "I can't really think of anywhere else to go. Is there somewhere I should drop you off or…?"

Angel bit her lip nervously. She wasn't sure that what she was about to do was a good idea but just like Danny, she didn't want to see the night end. "Actually, I don't really have a place to stay right now. Lex was supposed to set that up but he was too lazy to get anything ready. I don't suppose I could stay the night at your place? Please?"

It was a good thing they were parked at the moment because if they were driving Danny likely would have crashed out of shock. As it was he merely stared blankly at Angel, blinking owlishly. As Danny tried to figure out exactly what Angel meant, whether she meant stay the night or stay the night, Angel was getting nervous. Had she been too forward? Had she read the social cues wrong? Was Danny not actually interested in her? Or worse, was he interested but scared off because she had tried too move too fast? All those questions and more ran through her head.

Luckily for Angel, Danny came to his answer before she could have a nervous breakdown. His answer was one word. "Yes". It was the most beautiful word Angel had ever heard.

Angel spent the night at Danny's house. They shared a romantic candlelit dinner of takeout pizza. When she woke up he brought her breakfast in bed. Danny took the day off work to spend time with her. She ended up staying at his place that night too. And the next one. And the next one.

Over the next nine months a whirlwind romance took place, ending in a small discreet marriage ceremony with only their closest friends and Angel's brothers in the audience. Alan Barnes served as Danny's Best Man while Benjamin gave away the bride. Neither of their parents attended.

The marriage came none too soon because the very next day Angel's water broke. Distrustful of hospitals, she gave birth in her own home. Danny thanked whatever deities would listen for making sure that the birth passed as painlessly as possible with no complications. After several hours of sweat, tears and blood, Angel finally held her pale-skinned child in her arms while Danny looked on, pride and love filling his heart so full he thought it might burst.

"What do we call her?" Angel asked.

"Taylor," Danny answered. "Her name is Taylor."

* * *

Hey Guys, what's up? I'm RexHeller and thanks for checking out my story. In case you're unsure of what's going on, the premise is that the Endbringers turn into regular humans between rampages and the Simurgh is Taylor's mom. For those of you who are sticklers for details, yes I know that the Simurgh shows up years after Taylor's birth in canon. We're changing that here. The Endbringers each showed up much earlier than in canon in addition to being human when not in use.

I hope you enjoy the story. Feel free to leave constructive criticism.

EDIT: OH! And thanks to Cailin for betaing. She receives some leftover pizza for her work.


	2. Prelude 0-2

**Prelude 0.2**

 **Brockton Bay, July 2009**

"MOMMY!"

The dish that Angel had been cleaning slipped from her hand and fell into the sink, shattering into pieces. Angel didn't even notice, she had bigger things to deal with right now. Her daughter was crying. Everything else could wait.

Turning from the sink, Angel rocked back as Taylor slammed into her at a full run. Taylor wrapped her arms around her mother and started bawling her eyes out into Angel's chest. Angel didn't say anything, didn't ask what was wrong. She simply held her daughter and rubbed her back, whispering promises that everything was going to be okay. When Taylor recovered Angel could find out what had happened but for now she just wanted to make sure her daughter knew that she was loved.

Soon Taylor's tears ran out and while she still hiccupped from time to time she seemed to have stopped crying. Taylor had recovered much quicker than Angel had anticipated and she felt pride swell in her heart at how strong her daughter was. Even when she was devastated enough to run home to her mom, she was on her feet again after just a few minutes.

Taylor looked up at her mother with blood shot eyes. "Mom… Emma, she… she…"

"Shhh." Angel patted Taylor's head. "It's okay. Just take it slowly. In fact, why don't we sit down?" Angel guided her daughter out of the kitchen and into the living room, where she sat Taylor down on the sofa. Sitting down next to her, Angel took Taylor's hand in hers and gave it a comforting squeeze. "Now what's this with Emma? Start at the beginning."

Taylor sniffed once, twice, and then wiped her eyes before taking a deep breath and starting her story. "I was gonna meet up with Emma and I was really, really excited because I haven't seen her in weeks and the last phone call I had with her at camp got interrupted and I was really worried and I wanted to see if she was okay. So I showed up and Emma was there waiting for me but there was this other girl there, and I think Emma called her Sophia and she looked really angry looking but you always told me not to judge people by how they look so I went up and said hi and tried to be nice but the girl just insults me. She said I looked like a freak and a wimp. And then… a-and t-then…"

Taylor looked like she was about to cry again so Angel wrapped her arms around her. "It's okay," she said gently. "Take your time, Little Owl, take your time."

It took a minute for Taylor to calm down enough for her to continue her story. "And then Emma agreed with her. She said I was worthless and she didn't want to be friends with me anymore. Then the two of them kept insulting me and you until I ran away," Taylor finished with eyes closed and head down cast.

Angel's heart filled was filled with no small amount of anger at her daughter's words, but also sadness and confusion. Emma Barnes had been Taylor's best and pretty much only friend for years, practically from the crib. They had grown up together, played with each other, shared their secrets with one another. Emma had even defended Taylor from the playground bullies who had teased her for her platinum-blonde hair and pale skin for God's sake. For Emma to turn around now and betray Taylor in such a way was unthinkable. But it had happened and now, somehow, she had to fix it. Angel opened her mouth to comfort her daughter-

And felt a tingle in her brain and heart. A weak yet inescapable pull, a sensation that Angel had learned to dread. It was time.

No! No, not now! Not when my daughter needs me! You can't do this you bastard! I have a life damn it! You can't just tear me away because you want to play hero! "Damn you."

"Mom?" It took one look at her daughter's devastated expression for Angel to realize that she had said those last two words aloud. The guilt nearly broke her heart.

Angel almost threw herself at Taylor; pulling her into the tightest hug she had ever given her girl. "No! I wasn't talking about you Taylor. Never you. I swear you are the best thing in my life and I will never say or do anything to hurt you. I'm sorry, so sorry for making you think anything else."

Taylor didn't answer at first and Angel worried that she had accidentally alienated her daughter. However, her fears proved unfounded when Taylor returned the hug. "Thank you," she whispered, as if she didn't have the strength to speak any louder.

They stayed like that for a long time, just holding each other close. But the pull on Angel's soul grew steadily stronger until she could just barely resist it. With great reluctance Angel pulled back and looked Taylor in the eyes. "Taylor, I-" Angel's voice faltered for the first time that day before she gathered her courage and pressed on. "I have to go."

"What!" Taylor shouted, partially in pain and partially in anger. "You're leaving me? Now?"

Angel winced at Taylor's outburst. Once again she felt anger and guilt spike in her heart. Why couldn't she just have a normal life with her husband and daughter? "Yes, now. I am so, so sorry Taylor but you know I can't stay. I promise I'll be back soon."

"How soon?" Taylor asked with suspicion.

"Tomorrow," Angel answered immediately. Normally she would take a couple of weeks, maybe even three, so that people didn't get too suspicious but that didn't matter this time. All that mattered was that Taylor needed her.

Taylor blinked, surprised at how short Angel said she'd be gone. "You promise?"

"I promise."

Taylor chewed her lip, thinking about it. Finally she let out a resigned sigh. "Okay."

Angel immediately hugged her again. "Thank you Taylor. I'm so proud of you. Never forget that." Angel wished she could stay like that forever but the call was insistent. She let go of Taylor and got up from the couch. "Your Uncle Lex will be over to look after you until Dad gets home, okay. I'll be back tomorrow and then we're going to go have a very long talk to Alan and Zoe about Emma, okay?"

"Okay." Taylor nodded.

Angel gave Taylor one more smile. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

As Angel turned away from Taylor to walk to the front door, her face changed into a mask of rage. A man was standing between her and her baby.

That man was going to pay.

 **Unknown, July 2009**

"Can someone please tell me what the hell just happened?" Eidolon demanded. He was sitting in a wheelchair in Cauldron HQ, a new arm and pair of legs regrowing fast enough to be seen with the naked eye thanks to the regeneration power he was currently running. Also in the room, and trying not to stare, were Legend, Alexandria, Contessa, Doctor Mother and the Number Man.

"A success I'd say." The Number Man didn't look up from the tablet he was typing on as he spoke. "This Endbringer attack has the lowest casualty count on record, both in capes and in general."

"Yes but-" Eidolon tried again but was interrupted by the Number Man.

"It also cost the least amount in damage as well. If it weren't for the need to quarantine the city, this would have been the least expensive reconstruction effort ever."

"That's nice and all," Eidolon hissed through his teeth, "but what I was talking about was how the Simurgh tried to kill me!"

"Endbringers tend to try to kill everyone. It's what they do," Contessa pointed out.

"Not like this," Eidolon argued. "She was targeting me specifically. Chased me all over the city, tore me apart, damn near killed me and only left after I had teleported out of there. Plus you didn't see her face. I have never seen someone so angry in my life."

"He's right," Legend spoke up. "It was like he had burnt her favourite puppy alive or something. I don't know what you did David, but whatever it was you pissed her off something fierce."

"This is concerning." Alexandria entered the conversation. "We have no idea what caused this change in behaviour or what it means. For now I think we should be extra careful during the next few Endbringer fights. Hopefully this was a one-off thing but if the Simurgh targets you again or if the other two also target you specifically we may have to bench you. We can't afford to lose you," she said, pointing at Eidolon.

The Number man put down his tablet. "That may be true but at the same time, those reduced casualty rates I mentioned? That was because the Simurgh was too busy chasing Eidolon around to deal as much damage to everyone and everything else. It may pay to have Eidolon serve as a distraction from now on."

"In any case," Doctor Mother said, "we can't make a decision with what information we have. For now, all we can do is heal our wounds and wait."

"Just like always," Eidolon muttered bitterly under his breath.

* * *

Special thanks to Cailin for betaing. She receives Eidolon's missing limbs for her efforts.


	3. Prelude 0-3

**Prelude 0.3**

 **Brockton Bay, Winslow High School, January 2011**

Sophia Hess was a girl with a lot of hate in her. She hated her mother for trying to coddle her. She hated her older brother for constantly getting in her way and on her nerves. She hated her school for being a sack of festering crap that she was stuck attending. She hated being forced into the Wards and having to play by their silly little rules, like she was a puppet on a string. She hated Aegis for thinking he could tell her what to do, Gallant for always being so boring, Clockblocker for being a moron, Vista for all of the above and she hated all of them for trying to be her "friend". She hated Armsmaster, Miss Militia, Assault, Battery, Triumph, all of them for looking down on her. She hated not being able to do what she wanted. She hated not being able to hunt.

That's not to say Sophia was just made of hate and nothing else. She had her hobbies, like track and field or vigilantism. She really did enjoy exercising. There was something so satisfying about getting sweaty and out of breath while her muscles burned. She had friends too. The other girls on the track team were sort of fun to hang out with, now that they knew their place at least. Plus there was Grue. Sure, his power made it hurt to use her own but that just made hunting him more of a challenge, and thus more fun. Also, he had the most hilarious reactions when she flirted with him.

But over all Sophia hated more than she loved and the one person she hated above all was Taylor Hebert. Taylor was a pathetic little freak and the lowest of the low on the food chain. And worst of all, she had stolen Emma from Sophia. The young vigilante had first seen Emma when she fought back against the ABB mugging her and had gotten curious. When she met Emma for real she had seen the potential in her. Emma was a fellow survivor, one that with some training and guiding would make the perfect hunting partner. Maybe she'd even trigger if she were pushed hard enough.

And then Hebert had shown up and ruined everything. At first she hadn't seemed like a problem, a pathetic remnant of Emma's past life that just needed to be run off. But then things changed. Starting a few days after their little confrontation Emma had changed, at first simply avoiding Sophia and eventually outright rejecting her. Soon afterwards Sophia had gotten caught roughing up a worthless drug peddler high on his own product and was forced to join the Wards program if she wanted to avoid juvie, something that wouldn't have happened if she had had a partner like Emma watching her back. Bit by bit the joy was sucked out of her life, ruined in a long chain of events. And it all led back to Taylor fucking Hebert.

And so Sophia made it her life's goal to ruin Taylor's. Sure, as a Ward she could have easily transferred to the much better school Arcadia, but she stuck around at Winslow so she could mess with Hebert. Over the next year she did what she could to make Hebert miserable: stealing her homework, pushing her down stairs, pranks, insults, it all worked. She got away with it in part due to her PRT handler convincing the principle that it was in the school's best interest let her off lightly. She still couldn't push too hard without getting in trouble, but she had some room to work with. Also Hebert's weird looks reminded people of the Simurgh, which meant that few people were eager to rush to her aid. Sophia scoffed at ridiculousness of it, there was no way someone as pathetic as Hebert could be compared to a monster as terrifying as the Simurgh, but that didn't stop her from taking advantage of it. There were some, however, that did try and help the pale girl for some reason or other which meant that Sophia had to be careful and could never go as far as she liked. It wouldn't do for a video of her activities recorded by some do-gooder to end up online or with the police.

Because of this Sophia's frustrations mounted. No matter what she did to Hebert, the girl just took it and moved on. While it had been nice for a while that Hebert never fought back, it soon grew clear that she just wasn't getting the message Sophia was sending. Nothing she did seemed to affect Hebert for more than a day at most. But that would change today, Sophia was sure of it.

It was possibly the worst thing she had ever come up with. It was definitely the most disgusting. On the last day of school before Christmas vacation she had filled Hebert's locker with the corpses of various squirrels, birds and other small animals she had hunted down and left them to rot over the next two weeks. Now it was the first day back to school and Sophia was going to lock Hebert in the locker and leave her to rot, just like all the other vermin two weeks earlier. Sophia didn't even care if she got caught at this point, she just wanted Hebert broken and on her knees.

The plan had gone off without a hitch. Sophia had made sure that her followers were the only ones in the hallway at the time. She had followed Hebert stealthily until Hebert opened up her locker and started to puke her guts out at the mess. Then Sophia had pushed her in and locked the door behind her.

Taylor's reaction had been immediate. "Oh god, oh god, oh god! Let me out! Hey! Can you hear me!" Sophia laughed at her panicked screaming, which of course made Taylor scream all the more. "Sophia? Let me out right now! This isn't funny! Oh god, oh god!"

Sophia stopped laughing when there was a massive bang as something slammed against the inside of the locker door. A huge dent formed, which Sophia stared at in disbelief. Her brain temporarily shut down at the sight of it. Where had it come from? Why was it there? Surely it couldn't have been caused by skinny little Hebert, right? If she had that kind of power there was no way she would have let Sophia walk all over her. No, she must have brought a hammer to school or something. Could she have triggered right now? No, that was impossible. Power were for the strong, for the survivors of the world, something Hebert definitely was not. Maybe-

Then Taylor Screamed and it didn't matter.

* * *

As a reward for beating, Cailin receives Shadow Stalkers crossbows. Sophia certainly won't be needing them for a while.


	4. Capo 1-1

**Capo 1.1**

Tick tock goes the clock. I was too nervous to remember how the rest of that went. Nervous and bored. I hadn't thought it was possible to experience those two at the same time but there you go. I had been sitting in silence for a long time now with the only sound being the ticking of the clock on the wall. Seriously, does it really take more than fifteen minutes to drive across town? I guess it does. While I waited I examined the room for the millionth time. With one steel table, one steel door, two steel chairs and one clock, there wasn't much to look at but then again I suppose that's the point of an interrogation room. There wasn't even a one-way mirror like in the movies but I guess with Tinkertech, the PRT could just turn one side of the wall transparent, making the mirror unnecessary.

Glancing across the table I was sitting at, I caught the eye of the only other person in the room. Miss Militia gave me a benefic smile, or at least I thought she did by how the corners of her eyes crinkled, and I immediately ducked my head, blushing. I suppose I should have been excited about getting powers or worrying about what had happened but mostly I was embarrassed. And bored. And nervous.

Luckily, I didn't have to endure for much longer as exactly 16 minutes and 37 seconds after I started counting the passing time my parents burst into the room. Suddenly I was being hugged and there was a lot of yelling going on. Dad was yelling about how worried about me he was, some PRT agent was yelling about how sorry he was that he couldn't stop my parents, some other PRT agent was yelling about how my parents couldn't be there without filling out paperwork of some kind and Mom was yelling at Miss Militia.

"-en here! I am taking my daughter and we are leaving and I swear if you touched a single hair on her head I will make you pay! You have no right to arrest her and-"

Wait, what? "Mom, no! It's not like that! I'm not under arrest! They saved me!" That got Mom to stop, at least for a bit. And it was a good thing too, as Mom was mad. Really mad. I had only seen her this angry once before and that was when we found out that Emma had PTSD and Mr. Barnes hadn't done anything about it. While we ended up getting Emma the counseling she needed, I don't think threatening a Protectorate Hero would end as well as that had.

Thankfully, Miss Militia didn't seem to take offense to my Mom's outburst. "I assure you Mrs. Hebert, you daughter is not in trouble in anyway. Although I guess some explanations are in order. Why don't we find somewhere more comfortable where we can talk?" We all agreed to her suggestion and I was finally able to leave that awful interrogation room.

Turns out somewhere more comfortable was a meeting room, one with a large varnished wood table, green carpet, large window and leather spinny chairs that I totally didn't spin on no matter what my lies my parents will try to embarrass me with for years to come.

"Now," Mom said with clenched teeth. It seemed the short elevator ride to the meeting room hadn't cooled her temper any. "Would you please tell my why I found my daughter in a PRT interrogation room."

"I'm joining the Wards!" That's odd, was there another teenager in the room? It was only when I noticed everyone staring at me, (Miss Militia in amusement, Dad in surprise and Mom in… horror? Odd.), that I realize that the excited, half-squeed declaration had come from my mouth and not someone else's. I immediately buried my face in my hands so no one would see my blush.

Miss Militia chuckled. "As exciting as that may be, perhaps we should start a bit earlier? Want me to do the talking?" No, I wanted to go back in time so I could smack myself up the head before I could embarrass myself in front of my childhood hero. Her suggestion was a good alternative though, so I nodded silently and she started to explain to my parents what had happened.

"You daughter is a parahuman. She went through her trigger event, mmm, about an hour ago now. Not many civilians know this but trigger events tend to be traumatic and highly stressful and Taylor's was no exception. When she arrived at school today, a group of bullies locked her inside her locker which they had previously filled with," Miss Militia winced, "biologically hazardous material. At that point Taylor triggered and used her powers for the first time. When she screamed, her locker, the lockers in her immediate vicinity and every glass object in the school shattered. In addition, her bullies were physically thrown backwards by the force of the scream, their eardrums burst and the ringleader, a girl named Sophia Hess, was knocked unconscious by a piece of debris."

"What!?" Mom shouted before taking my hand and giving me a worried look. "I thought we dealt with Sophia years ago. Please don't tell me she's been bothering you all this time."

I shrugged. "It wasn't that bad. She mostly just called me names and tried to trip me. You're always saying that you're proud of how tough I am and since she wasn't really doing any harm it felt silly to complain about it. I never thought she'd go this far."

"Little owl," Mom said, in that concerned voice all moms know how to do, "just because you're tough doesn't mean you have to just sit there and take it. If someone's making trouble for you, I expect to know about it."

"I know Mom." I looked down. "It's just… I figure I can't rely on you forever, right?"

"Oh Taylor." Mom got out of her chair and gave me a hug. Since I was still sitting down it was a little awkward but it's still felt nice. I had been through a lot that day and a patented mom-hug™ was just what the doctor ordered.

I was reminded of where we were however when Dad cleared his throat. I blushed yet again and Mom let me go. When she saw my blushing face she giggled a little but thankfully sat down without commenting. When she was back in her chair, Dad spoke up, "Taylor isn't getting in trouble for any of this, is she?"

"Not at all." Miss Militia shook her head. "The only ones harmed were her bullies, making this a case of self-defense, and the PRT is prepared to pay for all the property damage. It's possible that the families of the girls bullying your daughter may try to file a lawsuit against Taylor but if she joins the Wards we can help with that too."

"Ok." Dad still look concerned but he was calming down. Mom was still frowning though. "So what happened after that?"

"Well, that was when we got called in." Miss Militia sighed. "At first we thought we were dealing with a Shatterbird attack, which as you can guess was very concerning. Armsmaster was first on the scene, where he found Taylor and the other girls and gave them basic first aid. When the PRT arrived Taylor was brought to one of the vans to get a full check up. Then we started to piece together what had happened. Thanks to your daughter's testimony, as well as that of the bullies and several other students, we determined that she wasn't at fault. In fact one girl, Madison Clements, was very helpful in particular."

Madi had helped? I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, she did have a reputation as the nicest girl in the school, but since we were in different social circles I guess I had thought it was mostly hyperbole. I'd have to say thanks to her later.

"After making sure Taylor was fine and that she wasn't at fault we brought her here and called you so that we could meet in private and discuss things," Miss Militia finished.

"Thank you," Mom said. She didn't sound grateful. "Now what's this nonsense about you forcing my daughter to join the Wards."

"We're not forcing your daughter to do anything," Miss Militia answered. "She volunteered."

"Taylor?" Mom asked me, concern in her eyes. "Is this true?"

"Yeah, it is." I didn't know why Mom seemed so upset but I had made my decision so I sat up straight and tried my best to sound sure of myself. "I want to join the Wards."

"Why?" Mom asked, sounding desperate.

"I have powers now, of course I'm joining the Wards!" I realized I had unintentionally shouted and took a moment to calm down. I was starting to get excited and maybe a bit frustrated with Mom and how she just didn't seem to get it. Just a little bit. When I was calm I continued, "I want to be able to help people. There's so much going wrong out there and if I can help fix even just a little bit of it, then I'm going to do my best to do so."

"I know that Taylor and I'm proud of you," Mom said and I could tell that she meant it. "But why not do that as an independent hero?"

I gave my mom a flat look. "Mom, when was the last time you ever heard of an independent hero doing something worthwhile? Or anything at all, actually?"

"Yes but…"

"If I might speak up," Miss Militia interrupted politely. "While we would be happy to have Taylor as an affiliated independent cape, there are several reasons to consider joining the Wards. As Taylor pointed out, independent capes don't have much of a PR machine behind them. While in most cases this means they don't get the recognition they deserve, due to her appearance and powers, Taylor will likely have the opposite problem. It's guaranteed that basically as soon as she starts her hero career, people are going to start comparing her to the Simurgh, claiming that she's Ziz's daughter and other such nonsense, no matter how ridiculous that is. If she joins the Wards, we can help prevent that sort of thing from happening. "

"There's no way you can stop that from happening," Mom argued.

"True," Miss Militia accepted, "but we can lessen the blow. Also, by joining the Wards Taylor can train with her powers in a safe, controlled environment."

"Bullshit!" Mom shouted. "Safe? The Wards are on the news every other week, fighting some cape villain or other!"

Miss Militia winced at the strength of Mom's vitriol. "That's… true. I won't deny that the Brockton Bay Wards see a lot more action than any other branch in the country but we do try to keep their patrol routes as far from any actual danger as possible and providing back up is entirely voluntary. We won't force her to fight if she doesn't want to."

"I want to!" I couldn't help but interject. Mom glared at me and I shut up.

Miss Militia continued as though I hadn't said anything. "Plus you can't deny that patrolling with teammates and official Protectorate members as back up is better than her going out on her own."

With no arguments left, Mom turned to Dad, silently begging him to take her side. "Sorry honey, but I think this is the right option for Taylor. We both know she's going to be going out as a hero anyway. She's far too determined not to. This way someone will at least be keeping an eye on her. Who knows, maybe she'll finally make some friends."

"I have friends!" I protested.

Dad smirked. "You have a friend, sweetie. And really, at this point Emma's more of a sister than a friend." I grumbled a bit but I didn't deny it.

Mom was grumbling too. Eventually she looked up and faced each of us in turn, searching for something in our expressions but I didn't know what. Whatever it was, she didn't find it. "Fine," She accepted. "But no Endbringer Battles!"

We all nodded. I wasn't even that disappointed at not being able to participate. Sure, I might not be allowed to help but it was likely that I wouldn't make a difference. Plus there was that whole 'not being in mortal danger' thing. That was good.

With us all in agreement, all that was left to do was the paperwork, which we decided to get done right then and there. I knew that Dad made a big deal out of paperwork but I thought that it surely couldn't be that bad. It was just like homework, right?

* * *

Special thanks to Cailin for Betaing. She receives an annoying clock as thanks.


	5. Capo 1-2

**Capo 1.2**

I was right, paperwork wasn't as bad as my dad said it was.

It was worse.

It took hours to complete and by the end my hand was cramped, my eyes were tearing up and if someone told me I had to sign one more document, I was going to light them on fire with my mind. Or I would try at least. I was pretty sure I didn't actually have pyrokinesis as a power.

Once we were finished signing things and having the legalese explained to us, Miss Militia offered to take me to power testing right away or introduce me to whichever were Wards on base at the time but it was getting late and it had been a long day. We made arrangements for all three of us to get picked up the next day (Mom and Dad wanted to watch the power testing) and then my parents and I went home.

We picked up some takeout chinese on the way home since none of us really felt like cooking. We ate in front of the TV and spent the rest of the night vegging out, watching bad action movies. I curled up with Mom on the couch and Dad sat in his favorite chair, laughing at all the one-liners that made Mom and me groan. All in all, it was just what I needed after an exhausting day.

Eventually I headed for bed. It was… odd. Like, my entire life had just gotten turned upside down. I had powers now. I don't think I'd ever be able to look at a locker quite the same way again. And yet there I was, brushing my teeth and putting on my PJs just like I did last night like nothing had happened. Weird.

Just as I was getting into bed there was a knock at my door and Mom poked her head in. "Hey Taylor. Mind if I talk to you a bit?"

I started to respond but was cut off by a jaw-cracking yawn, inciting my mom to giggle at my expense. When I had control over my mouth again I nodded at her. "Sure. What's up?"

Mom came in and sat down on the edge of my bed, while I sat up halfway under the covers. "First of all, I want you to know that I'm really proud of you. It takes a lot of courage to be hero and while I can't exactly say that I like the idea of my little owl going out and getting into fights, I'm happy you're the sort of person who'll stand up for others." I'll admit it, I preened at Mom's words, just a little. It felt good, getting praised like that. Of course, that wasn't why I was becoming a hero, but it did help.

Then Mom sighed and her face grew serious. "However, I'm not so sure joining the Protectorate was a good thing. It seemed like the best choice at the moment, still does even now, but that's what they do. It's their job to recruit parahumans and they are very good at it." She paused to run a hand through her hair, a nervous habit that we both shared. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that all though joining the Wards is the best option now, I have a feeling that you'll end up regretting it in the future."

"But Mom-"

"Just… Listen to me for a moment okay? You read all the same documents I did and I know how smart you are, so don't pretend you don't know how much you've given up to them. They own your image. Anything you build, they own that. And with how many rules they have determining your behaviour they might as well own you too. Everything we signed today? We basically gave them written permission to take advantage of you."

I frowned and bit my lip in frustration. I knew Mom had some issues with authority but this was a little ridiculous. "Mom, they're not going to take advantage of me. They're good people. All the rules-"

"Good people don't need rules, Taylor!" Mom shouted, shocking me to my core. She flinched when she realized what she had done. "Sorry! Sorry. I just… Promise me you'll keep your eyes open and that you'll come to me or your father as soon as you have any issues. I'm not saying that they're all bad people, Taylor, but in an organization as big as the PRT you're going to get just as many bad people as good, and you'll have no way to tell which is which until it's too late, so please, please tell me if you ever get into trouble."

I was nodding before Mom had even finished talking. She sounded just so desperate, I couldn't say no. "Of course Mom. I promise." I didn't think her concerns would be a problem but if it kept Mom's mind at ease then I'd do my best to keep my head on straight and not get dazzled by all the heroes I'd be meeting soon.

Before I knew what was happening, I was enveloped in a warm hug. "Thank you, Taylor. You have no idea what a relief it is to hear you say that." I wrapped my arms around Mom and hugged her back. When we separated Mom looked at lot more at ease then she did when she first walked in. "Goodnight, Little Owl. Want me to tuck you in?" I nodded my acquiescence and soon I was snuggled up tight under my blankets.

Yes, I still got tucked into bed although I was fifteen years old. No, I am not spoiled. That's slander.

Despite the stress of the day and the kinda worrying conversation with my mom, I quickly fell into a deep, dreamless sleep as was usual for me. I guess the day had just exhausted me outright. Before I knew it it was the next morning, with the sun shining through my window. Shrugging off my covers, I stretched like a cat before heading to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth.

When that was done I headed downstairs ready to start breakfast, only to find Dad already cooking up some waffles and bacon. Unsurprisingly, Mom wasn't awake yet. She never was a morning person. When he caught sight of me he stopped humming some song I didn't recognize and gave me a smile. "Morning, Honey. How's my little girl today?"

I rolled my eyes. At six feet and one inch tall, I was the tallest girl in my school and I had height advantage on most of the boys too. I could hardly be called little anymore. But dads will be dads. I walked up to him and gave him a quick hug. "I'm fine, Dad. Better than fine, actually."

"You sure?" Dad asked. "I mean, with what happened yesterday…"

I rolled my eyes again. Excessive maybe, but I'm a teenager. Sue me. "What part? The part where I got super powers or the part where I got to meet Armsmaster or Miss Militia? Or maybe the part where I joined up with the Wards?" Toning down the sarcasm a bit, I looked at my dad and spoke more seriously. "Honestly, Dad, I'm fine. I was in that locker for less than a minute. I'm not about to develop a phobia of small spaces or dead animals or something."

"Are you sure? You remember what Emma went through. I don't want you to feel like you can't trust us with these things," Dad said seriously.

"I promise that if I start getting flashbacks or something you'll be the first to know," I answered and Dad turned back to the cooking, satisfied. "You want me to the set the table?"

"Would you? Thanks."

Five minutes later, our kitchen table had three places set and I was sitting at one of them, tapping my fingers against the wood while waiting (not so) patiently for Dad to finish cooking breakfast. Feeling bored, I decided to ask a question that had been bugging me. "Hey, Dad?"

"Yes, Taylor?"

I started tapping out a different, faster beat. "You know how Mom's sort of got problems with authority? Any idea what's up with that?"

Dad looked over his shoulder at me and raised an eyebrow. "What brought this up?"

I shrugged. "Well, Mom gave me this little speech about how I shouldn't trust the PRT when I went to bed yesterday, and she really didn't like Miss Militia or any of the PRT guys. Plus, I remember I had to argue with her for days just so she'd let me go to public school. Oh, and now that I think about it, I've never been to a hospital, at least not that I can remember. Those are the big hints I guess, plus some other stuff, and I guess I was just wondering what was up with that. Oh! And she always makes you pay the taxes."

"Well I guess you have a point. It really was a struggle to convince her that homeschooling wasn't the better option," Dad said with a nostalgic smile. Then he sighed and set aside the waffle batter he was working on. When he sat down across the table from me I knew that this was going to be a serious conversation. Yay. "I'm sorry to say that I don't really know why she's so distrustful of the government. The truth is that I don't really know much about your mother from before I met her. "

"Oh c'mon, you've got to know something, right?" I asked with disbelief.

Now it was Dad's turn to shrug. "Not really. She never talked about her past and I didn't see a reason to ask." Dad paused for a second, tilting his head back and just sort of stared at nothing. "I think she might have had a rough past. The only thing I ever heard her mention was that her father was, and I quote, 'a complete and utter bastard'."

"And you didn't ask her… anything?" I was still skeptical.

"Nope." Dad looked back down from the ceiling to face me again. "Whatever's in your mother's past, she clearly doesn't want to talk about it. She's moved on and I'm happy she's done so. I didn't want to go digging up old hurt if it didn't matter," Dad finished and gave me a smile. "Now, anything else you wanted?"

"Yeah," I answered with a smile of my own, "food."

* * *

Extra special thanks to Cailin for betaing even when she wasn't feeling well. She gets a plate stacked high with homemade waffles as her reward. :)


	6. Capo 1-3

**Capo 1.3**

When breakfast was done I went back upstairs, passing by my mother as she stumbled down in a daze, moaning like a zombie. I quickly showered, got dressed, and generally got ready for the day ahead. Once I was done with that though, I was left sitting on my bed, wondering what to do. School was cancelled until the repairs were finished and I'd likely get transferred to Arcadia before then. The PRT wouldn't be picking up my family until the afternoon. With nothing to do, I flopped back onto my bed.

Then I immediately jumped back up again as I figured out what to do. Rushing downstairs, I grabbed my coat and ran out the door, shouting my goodbyes at my parents as I went, "See ya Mom! See ya Dad! I'm gonna hang out with Emma; I'll back after lunch byebye!"

I slammed the front door behind me and ran down the street to the bus stop. Then I waited for the bus to actually show up, bouncing on the balls of my feet impatiently. I managed a full forty seconds before deciding the bus was taking too long. Besides, Emma's house wasn't that far away, just three miles and a bit. I'd run between our houses before, it wasn't that big a deal.

Running at a steady pace without stopping, I made good time to Emma's. I don't know why she used to complain about that run when we were kids, I wasn't even breathing that hard. I guess she just didn't have the same energy that I did. Heh, I remember having to carry her after she tired herself out only halfway there. Anyway, I smoothed out my clothes and knocked on their front door. When no one answered in the next thirty seconds I knocked again. And a third time.

I was just about to knock again when someone from inside yelled at me, "All right, all right! Give me a second!" I lowered my hand back to my side and did my best to wait patiently. I was rewarded for my efforts when the door opened, revealing Emma's older sister Anne. She must still have had time off from her college.

"Taylor?" she asked, mildly surprised at my visit if her raised eyebrow was an indication.

"Hi Anne!" I said, waving at her excitedly. "Is Emma here?"

"Yep," she answered with a smirk. She then turned back and yelled up the stairs. "EMMA! Taylor's here!" Next she stepped aside, inviting me inside.

I could hear Emma running down the stairs as I took off my shoes and put them to the side. Straightening up and turning around, I was nearly bowled over when Emma tackle-hugged right into me. Luckily I was able to keep steady and return her very enthusiastic hug.

"Taylor! Are you okay?" I opened my mouth to answer but Emma just kept right on talking. "What happened? I tried calling your cell but there was no answer! The news said that Winslow blew up! Ohmygod, tell me you're okay!"

"I'm fine Emma, I'm fine." I did my best to calm her down. I wondered why I hadn't received any of her calls but then I remembered that my phone must have been destroyed when I Screamed. I'd have to see about getting a replacement. Now wasn't that time for that though. Gently pushing Emma back, I let her get a good look at me. "See? Totally fine!"

Emma looked me up and down and, seeing as I had no obvious injuries, seemed satisfied that I was telling the truth. Not that that made her any happier. "Okay, but what happened?" She asked with a minor scowl.

"Ehhhhhh," I waffled a bit, "That's a bit of a long story. How about we go to your room and I can tell you all about it?"

Emma pouted a bit before agreeing. "Fine. But you had better tell me everything." I nodded and we headed for her room.

Emma's room was fairly typical of a teenage girl's, at least compared to mine. She had her own desktop computer, her bed sheets were pretty and pink and she had a poster of that one cape singer, Canary, on her wall. My room, on the other hand, was filled with books, books, and more books. I sorta, might have inherited my mother's voracious appetite for reading material.

As soon as we had closed the door we climbed onto Emma's bed and sat cross-legged facing each other, just like when we were kids. Taking a deep breath, I got started. "Emma, I'm a cape."

I waited for Emma's jaw to drop. I waited for her to squee and hug me in excitement. I waited for her to tell me to quit bullshitting. None of that happened. Instead she just looked at me expectantly and made a little get-on-with-it gesture when it became clear I wasn't going to keep talking. "…yes, and?"

I gaped at her. "W-what? Is that really all you have to say? I just dropped a pretty big bomb on you, you could at least have the decency to look a little shocked."

"Taylor," Emma said with a bored tone, "you've been a parahuman for years."

"What? No I haven't!" I think that was the sort of thing I would have noticed.

"Yeah, you have." Emma sounded miffed. "You could run for over a mile without stopping by the time you were eight. You can recite all the Harry Potter books from memory. You've been taking college level textbooks out from the library for years now. Remember back when we were five and you stepped on that board filled with rusty nails? You were fully healed the next day. Normal people don't do that."

"Yeah well…" I protested. Or I tried to. Everything she said was technically true… I did do all that stuff. But that didn't mean I was born with powers or something, right? I told her so. "And besides, I couldn't have had superpowers before when I just got superpowers yesterday!"

Emma didn't quite believe me. I could tell by the Spock eyebrow. "Okaaaaaaaaay." She drew the word out, letting me know just how much she bought what I was selling. "Putting that aside for now, what happened yesterday?"

"Well, you know how I've been having trouble with Sophia?"

"What!" Emma shouted angrily, face twisted in anger. "No, I didn't know! What's she been doing to you?"

"Nothing! Nothing!" I tried to get Emma to calm down. That was right, I hadn't told Emma about Sophia. I had been keeping it from her for the same reason as my parents, except if Emma knew about it she'd probably make an even bigger deal out of it. I still didn't know exactly what Sophia had done to Emma that summer but it had become clear that once Emma was thinking clearly again (Never let anyone tell you that counseling doesn't work. Emma will be quick to correct you in such a way that will leave you with a phobia of short, shapely redheads) she was ashamed of her behavior and angry with Sophia for getting to her. Obviously, that meant that Sophia was a bit of sensitive topic and I had just undone all the effort I had put into keeping Emma happy by mentioning Sophia like an idiot.

"She hasn't been doing anything serious, I promise." I continued and Emma began to calm down. "Just spilling juice on me or trying to push me down the stairs, childish stuff like that."

That was the wrong thing to say apparently. "Pushing you down the stairs is not 'childish stuff'! People can die from that Taylor!" Emma yelled at the top of her lungs.

I could feel sweat roll down my brow. This really wasn't how I had been expecting my day to go. "B-but weren't you just saying that I wasn't a normal human? If you're right then I wasn't in any danger. You can't have it both ways Emma," I pointed out logically.

"But Sophia wouldn't know that Taylor," Emma countered, just as logically. "But she does know exactly what can happen to people who take long falls. If she was pushing you down stairs then she really wanted to mess you up. Maybe even kill you."

I opened my mouth to deny it. I wanted to give Sophia the benefit of the doubt. Frankly, I didn't think anyone would have wanted to kill me of all people, especially not another teenage girl, even if that teenage girl did seem to have serious anger issues. But Emma did know Sophia better than me, and considering what she had done yesterday… "Maybe you're right."

"I probably am," Emma muttered before speaking clearly. "So what did Sophia do yesterday? Tell me so I know exactly how angry I should be."

"Well…" I began telling the story of what had happened, starting with my arrival at school and moving onto how I smelled something weird in my locker before finishing with my Scream. By the end of it Emma was trembling with anger.

"That… That… That BITCH!" Emma screamed, clenching her hands into fists. "I'm going to freaking murder her!"

I placed my hands on Emma's fist and gently squeezed to reassure her. "Emma, please calm down. Remember your breathing exercises." Technically, those exercises were supposed to help with the panic attacks she used to have but I figured they would calm her down regardless of if was fear or anger that she was dealing with. "Besides, you can't murder Sophia. She's in the hospital."

"Watch me," Emma growled. But she did as I said and began her breathing exercises. It took a few minutes but eventually Emma calmed down to the point where she was no longer scary looking. "Okay, fine. Let's just… ignore Sophia for now. Did you really blow up your school?"

"Um…" I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment. "Sorta yeah. Really, it was just the windows. And the lockers near me. And the lights. And other electronics," I scratched the back of my head before grinning sheepishly. "But the walls are still standing at least!"

Emma started giggling and I pouted. This was serious business. She calmed down pretty quickly though and I continued. "So my power is sort of a super scream that can shatter stuff. I don't really know how it works but I'm going to the PRT later today for some power testing."

"So are you going to join the Wards?"

"Yep!" I nodded enthusiastically. "Already joined in fact. Well, I got the paperwork done. I haven't actually met the Wards yet."

"Paperwork?" Emma winced in sympathy. "Augh, sounds awful."

"Oh my god, it was so boring! You have no idea! There were forms about what I'm allowed to do and forms about what I'm allowed to say and forms about what I can and can't do with my costume, which I don't even have yet, and forms about my…" I paused mid-sentence as I remembered something important.

Emma knitted her eyebrows together. "Taylor? About your what?"

"Um…" I looked at Emma and giggled sheepishly. "Hey Emma? Want to come with me to the PRT HQ later? I think you need to sign some stuff…"

* * *

Today's chapter was beta'd by Cailin, who gets a hug. :)


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